New Yorkers’ Health Will Be Affected
by Climate Change, New Study Shows Results to be discussed at June 25th
event at Columbia University

Photo by Mark Inglis

June 7, 2004 - New York will be hotter in the
future, and some New Yorkers could be sicker as a result, according
to a study to be released at an event on June 25th hosted by The
Earth Institute at Columbia University and Columbia’s Mailman
School of Public Health. The study, involving three years of research
by Columbia’s New York Climate and Health Project (NYCHP),
investigated the health impacts of climate change scenarios in
the region. On Friday June 25, the authors will launch the study
with a summary and workshop on its major findings.

What: Modeling Heat
and Air Quality Impacts of Changing Urban Land Uses and Climate:
A Study by the New York Climate & Health Project
When: Friday June 25,
2004, 9:30-11:30a.m.
Where: Harison Room,
Faculty House
Columbia University (Enter Amsterdam at
116th Street)

In the future we can look forward to more and
longer air quality alerts, more heat stress, and illness or deaths
related to these, according to project director Joyce Rosenthal
of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman
School. “Some neighborhoods will suffer more, especially
poorer neighborhoods with less greenery and more asphalt, which
can create a heat island effect.” The study looked at climate
and health projections through 2050.

“Even if there is no climate catastrophe
in our century, incremental change is happening now and New Yorkers
should start thinking about what that means and how to adapt,” says
Steve Cohen, head of the Earth
Institute’s New York City research initiative. The June
25 event will provide a chance for scientists, members of government,
and others interested in the implications of climate change to
discuss the study’s findings.

“Our interdisciplinary group of researchers
has developed and tested ground-breaking methods for predicting
local temperature and air quality changes due to climate and land
use changes over the coming century, and for assessing related
health impacts,” adds Patrick Kinney, associate professor
of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School, principal
investigator of the study and an expert in health impacts of air
quality.

The scientists, with funding from the U.S Environmental
Protection Agency, developed an integrated regional assessment
linking models for land-use/land cover, global climate change,
regional climate change, atmospheric chemistry and pollution transport,
and studied the predicted impacts of heat stress and air quality
on public health.

The New York Climate and Health Project grew
out of a previous regional climate impacts study called the Metro
East Coast Climate Assessment (http://metroeast_climate.ciesin.columbia.edu/),
which was part of a national congressional survey of regional climate
change implications, co-led by Earth Institute scientist Cynthia
Rosenzweig and William Solecki of Hunter College, who are also
investigators on the New York Climate & Health Project. That
project involved downscaling climate change and sea-level rise
scenarios for the New York metropolitan region, researching impacts
in many sectors (including infrastructure, health, water and energy),
and devising adaptation and mitigation strategies. (For additional
information on energy and water, visit the New York Regional Energy-Water
Workshop at http://www.bnl.gov/nyre/.)

As Dr. Kinney explains, the climate and health
group was developed to address the need for modeling systems that
are capable of looking at many factors together and assessing local
impacts of climate change. Aside from heat and air quality impacts
on health, the group also incorporated land use changes since those
will also impact surface temperature and air quality. The study
brought together global climate change modelers, regional climate
modelers, regional air quality modelers, land use modelers, and
health scientists.

About the Earth Institute
The Earth Institute at Columbia University is a leading academic
center for the integrated study of Earth, its environment, and
society. The Earth Institute builds upon excellence in the core
disciplines–earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering
sciences, social sciences and health sciences–and stresses
cross-disciplinary approaches to complex problems. Through its research, training and global
partnerships, it mobilizes science
and technology to advance sustainable development, while placing
special emphasis on the needs of the world’s poor.

About the Mailman School of Public Health
The only accredited school of public health in New York City, and
among the first in the nation, Columbia University’s Mailman
School of Public Health provides instruction and research opportunities
to more than 800 graduate students in pursuit of masters and doctoral
degrees. Its students and over 200 multi-disciplinary faculty engage
in research and service in the city, nation, and around the world,
concentrating on biostatistics, environmental health sciences,
epidemiology, health policy and management, population and family
health, and sociomedical sciences. For more information please
visit www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu